SXM Smile Again

On September 6th, Saint Martin lived through one of the worst natural disasters of its history with the passage of monster hurricane Irma, whose strength and violence were never recorded before.

Our tourism industry has been seriously shaken. Although the rebuilding will take time, one month after, we are pleased to say that there are clear signs of recovery.

The Collectivity of Saint Martin, the French Government and local and international relief agencies are working together to ensure a full recovery as soon as possible.

- The road infrastructure and beaches have been cleared and cleaned and 2 of our beautiful beaches have received the agreement of the local health agency for swimming. - Electricity has been restored in 88 % of households and we are expecting a full recovery by the end of the month. - Water and telecommunications are back. - The hospital has remained open all throughout this ordeal. All consultations have resumed and the health department has reported 0 outbreaks to this date. - Grocery stores and gas stations are provisioned. - Grand Case International Airport is open since September 23rd giving us access to the rest of the Caribbean, the US and Europe with flights via Pointe-à-Pitre with Air Antilles Express and Air Caraibes. - PJIAE – Princess Juliana Airport is opened since October 10th with flights from Delta Airlines, American Airlines, Seaborne, Pawa Dominicana and Winair. - Many restaurants, bars and businesses have reopened doors. - Many restaurants in our dining capital Grand Case are working very hard towards the rebuilding and reopening of their establishments to receive the first clients at the beginning of 2018. - The Tourism Office is also in discussion with the organizers of the SXM Festival for its 3rd edition in 2018. - Where the hotel Industry is concerned, we are expecting a soft opening in April 2018 and all efforts are being put in place to have a normal 2018 – 2019 Tourist Season. - Almost all our guest houses suffered minor damages so are already fully operational.

The full extent of the damages sustained is still being assessed, however, we will update you as the information becomes available on:- Our website www.st-martin.org - Our facebook page Destination Saint-Martin The Friendly Island.

Many of you have expressed the wish to help us by donating. We are in the process of creating a fund who will enable us to create and support local events in order to redevelop the awareness, the notoriety and the attractivity of our territory. This information will soon be available on our website homepage.

I also want to take this opportunity to apologize for not informing you before but all of efforts were to insure the security and well being of the population of Saint-Martin all these last weeks.

Nevertheless, to you our friends around the globe, to you our repeat guests and faithful visitors, to the St. Martin lovers, to all those that have send us and showed us their support, whether it was a message, a post on Facebook, by sending supplies and water; for that St. Martin will be forever grateful for what you have done.

It is not only our pride and strength that helped us to believe in tomorrow but also your great support, so thank you. Rest assured that St. Martin is working hard on the sustainable reconstruction of the island.

St. Martin is smiling again! St. Martin will rise again and it’s already on its way. Thank you!

Valerie Damaseau 1st Vice President of French St Martin Territorial Council President of the Tourist Office.

Smile at life!

St Martin photos

New website for the Tourist Office!

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All the information you need to organise your vacation in St. Martin is available on our new website!